


Genesis

by Supred



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Iron Man 2, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Tony Stark has a daughter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25983283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Supred/pseuds/Supred
Summary: Genesis- an origin, creation, or beginningTrouble is stirring in Malibu as Roxanne starts developing powers and Tony is hiding something.(Set in Iron Man 2)
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

"I am Iron Man."

That's when it all changed. This announcement from my father, doing the typical Stark stunt of not following orders, is what opened me up to the larger universe. Looking back on it and knowing who my mother is now, it was probably always going to happen.

Anyway, I was 14 when my father became Iron Man after being kidnapped my terrorists and escaping. I was an average rich girl I guess. Except for the genius intellect and superhuman abilities. I'm quite tall for a girl of my age, 5'10 by the time I was fully grown at 16, taller than my Dad. I was super strong, fast and durable. We weren't sure why, my Dad barely knew who my mother was and I was dropped on his doorstep. When we found out, we conducted many tests and all we know is that I have DNA which isn't natural. My DNA is human+ as we currently call it.

Um, what else do I currently need to say....

Oh! I was born on the 13th June 1994. I'm 16 and my name is Roxanne Maria Stark.


	2. Chapter 2

I waited backstage, dressed in a beautiful teal dress that ended above the knee and was like a flowing vest in the front and belted. On my feet were cage boot heels, I wore pink/red lipstick, and my hair was pulled up into a top knot, all in all I looked very glamorous. Shoot to Thrill by AC/DC was playing while dancers danced in front of the American flag. It was bright, it was loud, it was very ostentatious. It was very Stark like.

Dad did the superhero landing, which I think looks really bad on the knees, especially in a metal suit. The suit was being dismantled when he started to brag."I'm not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me." To be honest, when Dad starts bragging I tune him out, 16 years of hearing it doesn't make it more interesting. "...me on my best day."

People were still cheering. "Please, it's not about me. It's not about you. It's not even about us. It's about legacy. It's about what we choose to leave behind for future generations. And that's why I would like to allow my legacy, my daughter Roxanne, to continue."

I walked on stage, waving and smiling to the audience who were cheering loudly. I hugged my father, happy that he was putting me in charge of the expo and finally giving me responsibility in the company. I held a microphone in my hand and started my speech "Thanks Dad. As my father said, it is no longer about the present, we a always looking toward the future and how we can improve it. And that's why for the next year and for the first time since 1974, the best and brightest men and women of nations and corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision, to leave behind a brighter future. It's not about us. Therefore, what I'm saying, if I'm saying anything, is welcome back to the Stark Expo."

The crowd cheered loudly, I smiled happily at Dad who was looking at me strangely, his face was a conflict between pride and grief. I continued, shaking off my thoughts. "And now, making a special guest appearance from the great beyond to tell you what it's all about, please welcome my grandfather, Howard." Dad walked off stage when the video began, but I stayed on stage, watching the video of the man who I never truly met as he died not even 6 months after my birth. I knew my Dad didn't have a good relationship with him, but I admired him none the less.

"Everything is achievable through technology. Better living, robust health, and for the first time in human history, the possibility of world peace. So, from all of us here at Stark Industries, I would like to personally introduce you to the City of the Future. Technology holds infinite possibilities for mankind," I looked at my father with a smile, but he was looking down at something with a frown. "...and will one day rid society of all its ills. Soon technology will affect the way you live your life every day. No more tedious work, leaving more time for leisure activities and enjoying the sweet life. The Stark Expo. Welcome."

———

After the introduction finished, we left the expo to go on itself. I wanted to be there for it all, the first time I had put something so big together and I wanted to experience it all. Unfortunately, I had a busy schedule and had to start acting professional as I was expected to be doing more of the business side of things instead of messing around in the labs. Pepper was giving me tasks to handle, that Dad should be doing instead she now just goes to him to sign papers, even then she has asked me to forge the signature many times. So honestly, she could do it all herself without Dad but I honestly think, she goes to him because of her 'hidden' feelings.

I Don't care about Pepper having feelings for my Dad, in fact if they got together, I wouldn' mind because she practically rose me. Dad wasn't the most caring father at times when I was a child. He was good when he wasn't partying but when he was drunk...well he didn't care much about me then.t's all good now but when I was younger, having Pepper as a Nanny before she was promoted to PA really helped. She drove me to school, when to all my plays and interviews, encouraged me to take classes in piano and even martial arts. It's were I discovered my passion for fighting and weapon art. No one knew that I had even started to take lessons to fight with a sword and had a few hidden around the houses and cars. Just in case, I cant ever see myself needing to use one but the idea was fun. Anyway, if Pepper and my dad ever got married it would be so great because I could then call her my Mom to her face

Happy led us through the crowd, we signed a few autographs and greeted a few people but were able to get through it quickly. We sat in the car when the men noticed the pretty woman. I rolled my eyes at their comments.

"Hey, does she come with the car?"

"I certainly hope so. Hi."

"Hi. And you are?" Dad kept flirting, which is gross. "Yeah? You found me. What are you up to later?"

"Serving subpoenas." The lady handed him a letter/ He didn't take it. I reached over him from my position in the back of the car. "I'll take that. He doesn't like to be handed things."

"Yeah, I have a peeve." The banter continued, I read through the paper. We were being ordered to be in DC tomorrow at 9am to appear before the Sente Ames Services Committee. Great. Another one.

———

I sat next to my dad on a long table with microphones in front of us, dressed in an off the shoulder blouse, blue geometric pencil skirt and a pair of tall black louboutins. I become like 6 foot tall or more when I wear heels because of my height but I don't really care, I like wearing them even though I become a giant. My hair was in an updo and my face was made up beautifully.

There were cameras everywhere, we were live on national television. Which is great. It's obvious what they are trying to do. Dad was looking back at Pepper, trying to annoy her, she was just shaking her head at him, ignoring his attempts.

Sitting before us is a group of numerous senators who are rambling about something that so far we have ignored. I may be more professional than my father but I am a Stark and this pointless proceeding wont make me any different. I was drawing a picture, it wasn't great, but it was funny. It was Senator Stern digging a hole with a tombstone that labelled it as his own grave. He was digging his own grave. Get it? Ha.

"Mr Stark, could we pick up now where we left off? Mr Stark. Please." The senator tries to get dad's attention.

Dad finally listens to Pepper and swings around to face the committee. "Yes dear?"

I smirked.

"Can I have your attention?" Stern questioned.

"Abso-lutely." Dad mocked.

"Do you or do you not possess a specialised weapon?"

My brows rose and I chuckled to myself. I shook my head but lowed my dad to continue.

"I do not." He responded simply.

"You do not?"

"I do not." He then added, "Well, it depends on how you define the word weapon."

"The Iron Man weapon."

I chuckled louder. "Senator Stern, the Iron Man device is not a weapon. And this proceeding is completely pointless if you are determined to continue this line of questioning."

Stern forced a tight smile onto his face. "And why is that Miss Stark?"

"Well, unfortunately I was hoping that our government was full of people who could clearly understand what a weapon is. However, I do know for a fact that your intentions here today Senator, was to twist the truth of the Iran Man device's purpose into something. That makes everyone in the country believe that the, quite frankly, genius piece of technology my father and I have created is a weapon. Then, when it is publicly labelled as a 'weapon', you will be allowed to confiscate it. But it is not a weapon and there is nothing that will make us declare it to be so. Thus, this receding can be labelled as pointless. Are we done here? Can I leave? I scheduled a manicure that I would like to go to. I was thinking something like Mind Your Own Beeswax yellow. What do you think?"

Dad gave out a laugh. But Stern sat back in his chair. "I think Miss Stark that having only taken a year of college at MIT does not make you an expert in weapons or politics. Maybe you should stick to things like your nails and hair. They are clearly your priorities."

Dad rolled his eyes. But anger filled my chest and my hands clenched. I spoke quickly and clearly into the microphone in front of me. "I would like to state that in that year of schooling that I gained two degrees, one in mechanical engineering and another in biomedical engineering. And that I am planning on getting more degrees in the future. I believe Senator Shaw that, that would make me at least knowledgable in the subject."

I didn't notice in my anger that a pen next to me had started to float off the table slightly. My dad had though. I pulled my head away from the microphone and kept my face composed in that slightly smug look all Starks have.

Stern looked away from me and faced my father. "Well... How would you describe the Iron Man device, Mr Stark?"

"I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Senator." Dad answered sharply, leaning on the table a little.

Stern waited for a response.

"It's a high-tech prosthesis." The audience laughed a little and dad looked back at them. ' That is... That is... That's actually the most apt description I can make of it."

"It's a weapon. It's a weapon, Mr Stark."

I scoffed and Dad cut in, irritated. "Please, if your priority was actually the well-being of the American citizen." Dad put his hand to his forehead.

"My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America."

Dad dropped his hands onto the table. "Well, you can forget it. I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending or what state you're in." The audience laughed, but Dad's voice stayed serious. "You can't have it."

"Look, I'm no expert..."

"In prostitution? Of course not. You're a senator. Come on!" Dad slaps the table again and the audience laughed. I have to admit I chuckled a bit but Pepper was staying serious. She shook her ear at Dad when he turned back at her to see her reaction.

"I'm no expert in weapons." Stern fixed his tie. "We have somebody here who is an expert on weapons. I'd now like to call Justin Hammer," Dad jolted up and swivelled in his chair, "our current primary weapons contractor."

Justin Hammer, to be quite frank, is a dick. He is the epitome of a pompous wanna-be who has no true originality and is CEO of a weapons manufacturing company called hammer Industries. Hammer Industries is the cheap knock-off of Stark industries. He is such a tool, his last name is Hammer. It's safe to say I cannot stand him, and neither can my dad.

"Let the record reflect that I observed Mr Hammer entering the chamber, and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance." Dad spoke snarkily. His face stayed stoic though. He was clearly starting to take some of this seriously.

"Absolutely. I'm no expert. I defer to you, Anthony. You're the wonder boy." Simultaneously, my father and I rolled our eyes. "Senator, if I may. I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert? Your dad." He then nodded to me, "Your granddad, Howard Stark. Really a father to us all, and to the military-industrial age." Dad pursed his lip and. Bounced in his chair. "Let's just be clear, he was no flower child. He was a lion."

"We all know why we're here. In the last six months, Anthony and Roxanne Stark have created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet, they insist it's a shield. He asks us to trust him as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, Anthony, Roxanne, I really do. I'd love to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house, but this ain't Canada."

"You know, we live in a world of grave threats, threats that Mr Stark will not always be able to foresee. Thank you. God bless Iron Man. God bless America." What was that? I felt like I was attending a Shakespeare play with all those theatrics.

"That is well said Mr Hammer. The committee would now like to invite Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the chamber."

I threw a look at Dad, whose eyebrows had shot up to his hairline. "Rhodey? What?"

We both stood up to greet my Uncle as he walked down the aisle.

"Uncle Rhodey?" I questioned slowly. "What are you doing?"

"Hey, buddy." Dad greeted him much more casually. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Look, it's me, I'm here. Deal with it. Let's move on."

"I just..." Dad started but was cut off. "Drop it."

"All right, We'll drop it." I surrendered for my Dad before he continued.

The senator began talking again. "I have before me a complete report on the Iron Man weapon, complied by Colonel Rhodes. And, Colonel, for the record, can you please read page 57, paragraph four?"

Rhodey was clearly unhappy with the bias opinion they were creating. "You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?"

"Yes, sir."

"It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner."

Senator Stern nodded and forced a dumb smile onto his face. "I understand. A lot of things have changed today. So if you could just read,"

Rhodey quickly interrupted. "You do understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summery of my final,"

"Just read it, Colonel. I do. Thank you."

I squinted angrily as Rhodey began, "Very well. 'As he does not operate within any definable branch of government, Iron Man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and to her interests.'"

Dad didn't react but I did by loudly groaning and kicking my legs out. I didn't care what they thought of me at this point. I was pissed.

"I did however, go on to summarise that the benefits of Iron Man far outweigh three liabilities and that it would be in our interest,"

"That's enough Colonel." Stern tried to get Rhodey to shut up.

"to fold Mr Stark..."

"That's enough!"

"...into the existing chain of command, Senator." Rhodey was clearly aggravated by the politicians in front of us.

Dad suddenly leaned into the microphone. "I'm not a joiner, but I'll consider Secretary of Defence, if you ask nice."The audience laughed and Dad shrugged a little. "We can amend the hours a little bit."

"I'd like to go on and show, if I may, the imagery that's connected to your report."

Rhodey was reluctant, but he didn't really have a choice. He started to explain how some countries are attempting to make copies of the suit. There are files and pictures on the screen. I pull my phone out of my bag and started to hack into the military's database. I glanced over to see my dad doing the same thing. We caught each other's eyes and frown before looking back to our phones, attempting to go faster than each other. I reached the files boefore him and nudged his arm smirking victoriously.

I then hacked into the screens to get them to reflect what is on my phone. "Hold on a second buddy. Let me see something here. Boy, she's good. She commandeered your screens. We need them. Time for a little transparency. Now, let's see what's really going on."

I gave dad my phone so he could browse the videos. The screens flash with seemingly endless failed attempts at other people attempting to make a copy of the Iron man suit. North Korea, Iran. Even Hammer Industries had attempted. All the while, Justin's and Senator Stern are panicking to turn the screens off as the audience watches and gasps at the horrific and gruesome failures. Dad narrates the entire time, which only made me laugh loudly and inappropriately. Dad and Rhodey shared a look as Justing finally cut off the screens.

"Wow. Yeah, I'd say most countries, five, ten years away." He motioned to the screen. "Hammer Industries, twenty."

"I'd like to point out that that test pilot survived." Justin tried to defend himself.

"In what condition?" I questioned myself forgetting how close I was to my microphone.

The audience murmured in agreement.

"I think we're done is the point that he's making. I don't think there's any reason,"

"The point is, you're welcome, I guess" dad throws out his hand and shakes his head, nonchalantly smug.

"For what?"

"Because I'm your nuclear deterrent. It's working. We're safe. America is secure. You want my property?" dad began to slap the table with each word, "You can't have it. But I did you a big favour."

He stood up, faced the audience and held his hands up in peace signs. "I've successfully privatised world peace."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead as the situation got more heated and Senator Stern said some choice words that have chosen not to repeat. I stood to leave, sharing a glance with Rhodey as my father put on his sunglasses and mockingly blew kisses at the enraged senator.

I followed my father, towering over him as he moved through the aisle, shaking people's hands. I held my bag on my shoulder with both hands as I looked straight down, wanting to finally leave. It was just becoming too much.

"My bond is with the people. And I will serve this great nation at the pleasure of myself. If there's one thing I've proven it's that you can count on me to pleasure myself."

Ew.


	3. Chapter 3

"May I say how refreshing it is to finally see you in a video with your clothing on, sir." Roxanne heard Jarvis say as she entered the garage, at his words Roxanne grimaced, she was just as grateful. She didn't need to see that anymore. It practically gave her nightmares.

Roxanne was dressed in her more comfortable clothes, a large purple sweater that kept falling off her shoulder and a pair of shorts. She glanced around the workshop, it was messier than usual. "Look's like a hurricane has blown through here. What happened?"

Tony shrugged, "Not sure, I was bored and someone has been hiding from everyone recently."

Roxanne crossed her arms. "Not true! I have been handling the expo and I've been going to court with you!"

Tony looked up at her, "Yes, and you have done wonderfully at those but what happens when we are back here?" Roxanne opened her mouth but Tony beat her to it, the question being rhetorical. "You are out all the time, definitely partying with people I don't know, and when you are back you don't talk to us and stay in your room."

Tony stood up and put his hands on his pouting daughter's shoulders. "What's happening with you, Princess? Why are you shutting us out? You have always told me and Pepper everything. Why aren't you doing that anymore?"

Roxanne was looking at the ground, unable to meet her father's eyes. She felt guilty that she had hurt her family like this. But she couldn't answer, it was hard to admit she was losing control of anything, she knew that she would be able to handle this herself in no time at all. Tony noticed that as she stayed silent, pens and papers started lifting off the table. He held her to him, as if he was trying to protect her from the power she held in her body.

Suddenly, the two of them heard a crashing noise and turned to see Dummy knocking over the smoothies machine. "I'm not cleaning that up." Roxanne said.

Tony just glared at the robotic hand. "I swear to God I'll dismantle you. I'll soak your motherboard. I'll turn you into a wine rack."

Roxanne hit him on his shoulder, "Don't be mean to him."

Tony just glared at her, clearly not in the mood. She rolled her eyes, "God! He was my first fully functioning robot, okay? He's important to me. I was learning at the time."

"Yes, and since you made him, you can improve him." Roxanne just stared at him. "It'll help calm you down. Help with the emotions. I know you Rox, focusing on something is better than anything else."

Roxanne smiled and made her way towards Dummy.

As Roxanne worked with headphones firmly plugged in, Tony turned back to the screen he was looking at before she arrived. "How many ounce a day of this gobbledegook am I supposed to drink?"He asked Jarvis quietly, hoping Roxanne wouldn't hear. He hated lying to her about this, their relationship was built on a strong amount of trust. But he didn't want to worry her. He just found out that she's having a hard time currently, telling her about this would just make it worse.

"We are up to 80 ounces a day to counteract the symptoms, sir."

Tony sighed and glanced back at Roxanne, her head was bobbing goofily as she worked on Dummy. Tony laughed a bit, she was a Stark through and through, her gift for engineering would only grow, whatever direction she decided to take it in.

He turned back to the desk and pulled out the palladium level monitor, "Check palladium levels."

"Blood toxicity, 24%. It appears that the continued use of the Iron Man suit is accelerating your condition. May I suggest that you should tell Miss Stark?"

"No you may not." Tony told him as he took his Arc Reactor out of his chest. The core popped out, rusted and slightly smoking.

"Another core has been depleted." Jarvis observed.

Tony stared down at the core. "God, they're running out quick."

"I have run simulations on every known element, and none can serve as a viable replacement for the palladium core."

"You are running out of both time and options." Jarvis said as Tony put the arc reactor back into his chest. "Unfortunately, the device that's keeping you alive is also killing you. Miss Potts is approaching. I recommend that you also inform her..."

Tony lowered his shirt, "Mute." He hit Roxanne on the shoulder to get her attention.

Roxanne gave him a bitch face. Tony gestured towards the door, "Potts."

Roxanne's eyes widened and she looked over. Pepper looked mad, and that was never a good sign, it was always loads of yelling and stress. "This isn't going to be fun."

"Is this a joke?" Pepper asked as she entered the room. Roxanne tried to quietly exit but Pepper clicked her fingers at her. "Oh no, Missy. You stay."

Pepper gestured for her to stand next to Tony the teenager pouted and stood next to her father. "What are you thinking?"

"What?" Tony asked confused.

Pepper repeated herself. "What are you thinking?"

"Hey, I'm thinking I'm busy. And you're angry about something. Do you have the sniffles? I don't want to get sick."

"Did you just donate..." Pepper started to rant so Tony walked off trying to avoid her. Roxanne followed the two as they walked around the garage.

"...our entire modern art collection to the..."

"Boy Scouts of America." Roxanne finished. "Yeah, he did. I told you she would be mad."

"It is a worthwhile organisation."Tony argued. "I didn't physically check the crates but, basically, yes. And it's not "our" collection, it's my collection. No offence." Roxanne sighed and started going through her phone. She didn't need to hear her dad and mother figure arguing again.

"No, you know what? I think I'm actually entitled to say "our" collection considering the time that I put in, over 10 years, curating that."

Tony shrugged. "It was a tax write-off. I needed that."

Pepper stared at him annoyed. "You know, there's only about 8,011 things that I really need to talk to you about."

"The Expo is a gigantic waste of time."

Roxanne looked up at Pepper, offended that she felt that way about something she had spent so much work on. "Hey!"

Pepper looked back at her, "I meant that there is more important things that you could be managing, especially since you are the heir."

Roxanne looked away with a slight smile on her face. Pepper always knew how to stroke her ego and let her down at the same time.

Tony rolled his eyes only to back away from her as she coughed "I need you to wear a surgical mask until you're feeling better. Is that okay?"

"That's rude." She told him before turning to Roxanne "How's Jason?" She asks sweetly, Jason was Roxanne's most recent boyfriend and the seemingly the most serious she had as they had been together for three months now, he seemed like he really liked Roxanne and he was a good guy which was something Roxanne really needed. Much like every other Stark, she wasn't known for choosing good bed mates. So Pepper had given him the stamp of approval...plus the fact that he had sucked up to her may have helped his case slightly.

Tony's eyes widened "You have another boyfriend? I thought you were still living the free life of a single underage girl."

Roxanne rolled her eyes and Pepper shrugged "We went out to dinner last week."

Tony stared at Roxanne accusingly "You let Pepper meet him!?"

Roxanne groaned, wincing slightly, she was afraid this would happen "It's just that every time I've tried to introduce a boy to you you have always done background checks on them or freaked them out with being Iron Man, you don't let me have a normal relationship. You tell me all of their flaws and often reveal that they were only hoping to be a boy toy or that they still have their Mom bathe them and tuck them into bed!"

"Oh come on!" Tony exclaimed. "It's not like you would stay with Baby Boy Georgie after that! And most of the guys you have dated are bad guys."

"You may think that you are doing the right thing, but you are just stopping me from growing up and maturing healthily! That's why you haven't met Jason, if its that big of a deal you can meet him soon!"

Tony smiled "Now that, that's settled can we get back to the expo. There's nothing more important to me than the expo, it's my primary point of concern. I don't know why you're..."

"The expo is your ego gone crazy." Pepper pointed out, still fuming.

Tony ignored Pepper and smiled at the Iron Man poster currently leaning against one of the machines "Wow. Look at that. That's modern art. That's going up."

"You have got to be kidding." Pepper said in annoyance, if he put that up she was literally going to lose her mind.

"His ego is everywhere, it's like a fungus." Roxanne said to Pepper, having fun playing the devil on her shoulder.

Tony picked up the poster "I'm gonna put this up right now. This is vital."

"Stark is in complete disarray." Pepper told Tony as he began walking again "You understand that?"

Tony shook his head "No. Our stocks have never been higher."

Roxanne looked over at Tony, she had been keeping an eye on it, it was her family's life work after all and her future. "You do realise that's only from a managerial standpoint right?"

"How'd you know that?"

Roxanne shrugged "Pepper actually likes me because I have been slowly taking over your role as you have started acting as the 16 year old instead of me."

Tony sighed, they were teaming up on his again, introducing the two of them had been a terrible idea "If it's messy let's double back."

"Let me give you an example..." Pepper argued.

Tony cut her off "Let's move on to another subject."

Pepper's eyes widened as she saw what he was doing now "No, no, no, no. You are not taking down the Barnett Newman and hanging that up!"

"I'm not taking it down." He told her as he grabbed the painting currently hanging on the wall and lowered it down "I'm just replacing it with this. Let's see what I can get going here."

Pepper turned back to Tony "Look my point is we have already awarded contracts to the wind farm people."

Tony cut in, "Don't say wind farm people, I'm already feeling gassy."

Pepper just continued as though he had not spoken, something that she found herself doing very often "And to the plastic plantation tree. Which was your idea, by the way? Those people are on payroll."

As the two argued, Roxanne tuned them out by texting Jason.  
Hey  
Hey babe  
What are you doing?  
Listening to Dad and Pepper argue.  
God! The sexual tension is so thick I just want to  
scream at them "KISS!"  
Haha. The expo was on tv, you looked really  
happy. How was it?  
I had fun, but it was still all about Dad and his ego. How's school?  
Oh so fun. Learning algebra from Mrs Garglefield  
is so much better than the tutoring I get from my  
college educated girlfriend.

"You run the company." This made Roxanne's eyes widen and she looked up at her dad.

"I'm trying to run the company."

"Well, stop trying to do it and do it."

The two continued to argue and yell at each other so Roxanne cut in "Pepper, he's trying to make you the CEO."

Pepper's face dissolved from anger to complete and utter shock, she turned to Tony and sniffed his breath a little. "Have you been drinking?"

Tony shrugged. "Chlorophyll. I hereby irrevocably appoint you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries, effective immediately."

Pepper just stared in shock "What about Ruby?"

Roxanne laughs "I don't see being CEO in my future for a while, I'll help out from time to time, but Pepper this job it's yours. It was always yours."

Tony smiled before grabbing the bottle of champagne that dummy handed him, he turned and handed Pepper a glass, then turned to Roxanne who was reaching for a glass. "No. You're 16 and I'm gonna be the responsible parent right now" Roxanne rolled her eyes and his suddenly strict attitude, they both knew that she has drunk before, they both knew that she had explored more than alcohol in her lifetime.

He then turned back to Pepper "Anyway...I've actually given this a fair amount of thought, believe it or not. Doing a bit of headhunting, so to speak, trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be. One who would be right for the job until Roxanne is ready to take over. Someone who can guide and teach her properly. But then I realised it's you. It's always been you."

Roxanne smiled as Tony went and watched Pepper who was still in a state of shock "Congratulations Pep." Roxanne hugged the shocked Pepper who was too frozen to hug back and silently made her way out of the room to give the two some privacy.

———————————

"The notary's here!" Pepper called as she entered the room causing all three of them to turn to the red-head "Can you please come sign the transfer paperwork?" She asked Tony as she moved over to the glass table in the corner of the gym.

Roxanne was dressed in a grey tank top and sports leggings. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She had finished her daily workout when her dad and Happy walked in. She was lucky that she wasn't doing anything with the sword she had bought not too long ago, her Dad had no idea about it and she did not intend for him to become aware. Roxanne spent the last hour watching them. Mainly laughing, sometimes helping, but mainly laughing.

"I'm on Rox and Happy time." Tony argued.

"Yeah, but he still sucks." Roxxanne told Pepper before climbing into the ring, Tony wrapped his arm around her in a loving gesture. Suddenly, Roxanne dropped out of the hug and holding an arm across his belly, pulled him onto the floor. Pepper tried to stifle her laugh. They may not have had the most traditional father/daughter relationship but it worked for them...plus it was always funny watching Roxanne knock Tony's ego down a peg, even if it was physically.

"Not fair." Tony moaned as he groaned in pain "You have super strength.

Roxanne giggled before pushing him back over to Happy. She watched as Tony elbowed Happy in the face. Happy looked pissed now.

"Sorry." Tony muttered to Happy before raising his arms again prepared for another round.

"What the hell was that?" The bodyguard asked angrily.

Tony shrugged slightly as he continued to bounce around the ring "It's called mixed martial arts. It's been around for three weeks."

"It's called dirty boxing. There's nothing new about it."

"All right, put them up. Come on."

Happy chuckled and raised his hands only to freeze as a figure by the entrance drew his attention making him completely immobile.

Roxanne arched a brow at Happy, it took a lot for the bodyguard to lose focus so what could possibly be so important, she turned her head following his gaze only to roll her eyes as she realises what the bodyguard and now her father were gawking at. The beautiful red-haired woman stood beside Pepper.

"I promise you this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company." Pepper assured Tony drawing his attention, finally snapping him out of his daze.

Roxanne noticed both Happy and Tony still staring at the red head, she rolled her eyes before slapping them both in the back of the head.

Tony turned to his daughter glaring at her before turning back to Happy and kicking him in the stomach "Rox, your turn."

Happy did not look as happy at the thought of sparring with the leggy brunette as he did at the idea of fighting with Tony, who was horrible at hand-to-hand. Roxanne grinned mischievously as she walked closer to him. "That's not necessary, she can already fight." Happy tried to argue but Tony was already climbing out of the ring with a smirk on his face while Roxanne was stretching her arms in preparation causing the bodyguard to sigh.

"I'll go easy on you." She promised. "We have a guest and it's not like I'm gonna throw you through a wall. We just got the walls repainted."

Happy released a small sigh of relief at her words before she let loose a series of quick soft punches.

He was able to block most of them but received a few whacks to the head. It was when she started kicking, that's when he started to struggle. She went at a speed that was impossible to keep up with and the hits became stronger and stronger.

The red head watched with interest as Roxanne spun in the air before dropping to the ground to sweep a leg under Happy's ankles to pull him down. To his credit, he got up quickly and kept trying to fight.

Happy swung at her repeatedly, Roxanne easily blocked these strikes. She grabbed one of his arms as she dodged it and held it tightly and she jabbed his belly with her elbow. Happy was winded and stayed stunned as Roxanne kicked behind his knees to send him onto the ground.

"That's it." Happy moaned as he stood once more. "Bring it, kid!"

Roxanne was simply smirking in amusement as she dodged and blocked every throw he aimed at her. She didn't show any signs of exhaustion while Happy was sweating and panting.

The red head smiled slightly as she watched the brunette play with the older man before she finally wrapped a leg around his neck and flipped herself backwards bringing Happy with her.

Happy crashed into the corner of the ring and the teenager stood back up quickly "You okay?" She asked worried that she had hurt him by using some of her super strength.

Happy didn't answer he merely raised a shaky hand and gave her a thumbs up.

"That's my girl!" Tony cheered as he laughed while watching her get out of the ring. He shook his head in amusement and glanced over at his daughter with a proud smile, not only was she beautiful and smart, but she could take care of herself and anyone that may try to take advantage of that fact.

Tony and Roxanne walked back over to the table where the two red heads were waiting. Tony then turned back to the red head as he takes his seat beside Pepper "Name?"

"Rushman. Natalie Rushman." She answered before turning back to Roxanne, she had found the girl intriguing as she hadn't ever seen anyone with that much strength and grace. She was skilled for a 16 year old. No where near a master but she could hold up in a fight if she needed to. "Rather impressive."

Roxanne smiles. "Thanks. I train."

Natalie chuckled "I can see that, Taekwondo?"

"That and others. You?" Roxanne asked curiously enjoying that someone shared some of her interests. She loved Malibu, but she did not like most of her friends, finding them vapid and superficial. No one really knew her as much as the three people currently in the room.

Natalie shrugged with a small smile.

Tony grinned and raised his eyebrows suggestively at the gorgeous woman. "Front and Centre. Come into the church." He said as he headed back inside the ring.

Pepper turned to him astonished, she couldn't believe he was serious. "No. You're seriously not gonna ask..."

"If it pleases the court, which it does."

"It's no problem." Natalie told her with another small smile.

"I'm sorry. He's very eccentric." Pepper said as Natalie made her way towards Tony, while Roxanne climbed over the top of the couch and landed relatively gracefully next to Pepper.

Roxanne leaned her head on her mother figure's shoulder. Pepper started to stroke her hair and they watched the others mindlessly. "You okay?"

Roxanne nodded,"Yeah. Why?"

"You have been locking yourself in the gym a lot lately. That's why Tony was so insistent on training today, he wanted to see what you have been doing."

"I just like to be alone sometimes.

Pepper looked down and Roxanne seriously. "You make like being alone sometimes but there's being independent and being a hermit. You don't talk to many people other than us or Jason anyway. What happened to that girl who you went out with a couple times, uh, Julie?"

Roxanne's nose scrunched in remembrance of that girl. "Jubilation Lee, she's a bit too excitable. Intellectually, she's a single cell organism in a world of goldfish."

Pepper's head shook at Roxanne's view of other people. Roxanne sighed, "It's not that I don't want to make friends, its just-"

"Pepper." Tony called as he walked over, effectively ending their conversation.

Pepper looked over at Roxanne sympathetically "We'll talk later." She assured her squeezing the teen's hand supportively making her smile before she glanced up at Tony "What?"

"Who is she?" He asked as he took a seat next to his two girls.

"She's from legal. And she is potentially a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that."

Tony pouted "I need a new assistant, boss."

Pepper rolled her eyes, the fact that he had been staring at the young woman was clearly bothering her, not that she would admit it, yes she cared for Tony and despite Roxanne constantly saying they should just hurry up and get together all ready, she was going to keep it professional "Yes, and I've got three excellent potential candidates. They're lined up and ready to meet you."

Tony shook his head as he continued to stare at Natalie, not remembering the fact that it clearly made his daughter feel very uncomfortable "I don't have time to meet. I need someone now. I feel like it's her."

Pepper and Roxanne gave him identical looks of disgust and annoyance. Tony groaned, he hated it when they did that, it was like they both had decided that teaming up against him was the greatest idea in the world.

Tony glared at them both, hating how close they had gotten over the years. After a moment of mumbling curses under his breath he reached over to the holographic keyboard on the table "How do I spell your name, Natalie?" Tony called as the three watched her and Happy in the ring.

Natalie turned to them "R-U-S-H-M-A-N."

Roxanne watched as Tony brought up the hologram on the table "Are you seriously doing a background check?"

Tony cut in, "Wow. Very, very impressive individual." He glanced over at Pepper who was trying to speak to him "You're so predictable, you know that? She's fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin."

"Who speaks latin?" Tony asked.

"No one speaks Latin." Pepper told him "It's a dead language."

"I do." Roxanne argued "And Jarvis has told me I mutter in Latin in my sleep, German as well for some reason. Jason has said so as well."

Tony's eyes widened at the comment and he started to see red, why in the world would Jason be in Roxanne's bed...yes he knew what that reason was but he refused to believe that...that or anything in the sorts of that was happening...oh he really wanted to kill that boy now. "And how would the Macaulay Culkin stunt double know if you speak Latin and German in your sleep?"

Roxanne rolled her eyes. "You researched him?"

Pepper turned to Tony. "You can't keep invading your daughter's privacy!"

Tony turned back to Roxanne. "Firstly, we're not done here. Secondly, do you really want to date someone who reads that much Star Wars fanfiction?"

Roxanne groaned in annoyance as Tony turned back to the screen.

"Did you model in Tokyo?" He asked Pepper suddenly "Cause she modelled in Tokyo."

"Well..." Pepper started but Tony interjected.

"I need her. She's got everything that I need."

Roxanne turned back just in time to see Natalie use a similar move she used on Happy earlier by wrapping her legs around his neck and bringing him to the ground "Wow!" Roxanne gasped as Pepper screamed "Oh, my god!"

Tony chuckled as he ran over to the ring and rang the bell.

"I just slipped." Happy argued.

Roxanne smirked, "You've been really clumsy today then, huh?"

"Looks like a TKO to me." Tony said before again ringing the bell.

Roxanne stood and climbed into the ring to help Happy while Tony finished with the paper work, "Goodbye, Miss Stark." Natalie said to Roxanne. Roxanne hummed in return, not entirely paying attention as she passed Happy his water.


	4. Chapter 4

** Monaco **

Roxanne wore a butter yellow one shoulder dress and a tall pair of cobalt sandals that caused her to tower over the others as she walked into the party with Pepper, Tony and Happy. Roxanne couldn't help but admire the stunning hotel hall they were in, despite being to parties her whole life. She still appreciated the beauty she got to experience.

"You know, it's Europe." Tony reminded them, causing Roxanne to roll her eyes, sometimes he just didn't think before he spoke.

Tony turned to Roxanne holding onto her arm to keep himself from wobbling "Look whatever happens in the next 20 minutes, just go with it."

"Go with it?" Pepper asked curiously but also groaning slightly, what the hell was he up to now?

Tony merely smirked loving the curiosity he could see building in the red-head's eyes, however quickly he got back to what was most important of all "Oh and keep Hammer away from the Amazon here."

Roxanne chuckled slightly at the nickname "You can't say anything Frodo."

Tony nodded "I don't like the way Hammer looks at you, like you're a prize. So if he comes up to you, feel free to flip him. That'd be more entertaining than this is."

Pepper's eyes widened in shock and disbelief "Tony!" She hissed not happy with the fact he was encouraging Roxanne to commit acts of violence...even if it was against Hammer...although she had to admit if they were not in a public place she might be encouraging it as well. He was that annoying.

"Mr Stark?" Natalie asked as she walked towards them, cutting of their talk "Hello. How was your flight?"

Tony smiled and grinned like the cheshire cat "It was excellent. Boy, it's nice to see you."

Pepper and Roxanne watched in annoyance as they took their drinks from the waiter, this was going to be a long day "We have one photographer from the ACM, if you don't mind. Okay?" Natalie asked.

Natalie took their drinks off them, as she does Roxanne pouted "Hey." She moaned but Natalie merely smiled at her and asked, "Aren't you underage anyway?" This made the brunette roll her eyes but the amusement could be seen still.

Pepper sighed before turning to Tony, she was confused as to how and when he had hired Natalie without her knowledge "When did this happen?" She asked.

"What? You made me do it?" He argued as he kept the smile on his face.

Roxanne forced a smile on her face as she stood next to Pepper who was between the two Starks. Once again she had to be in the middle of the parents arguing. "That's not what happened." She said sweetly, hiding her annoyance at the fact he had gone behind Pepper's back.

"She quit." He said before turning both women towards the camera "Smile. Look right there."

"Stop acting constipated." Tony told Pepper.

"Don't be such a lecherous jerk." Roxanne muttered, still smiling prettily.

"I should have sent you to boarding school, or military school." Tony sighed.

Roxanne just smirks "How long do you actually think that would have lasted?"

Pepper sighed as they pulled apart after the photo was taken, sometimes Roxanne and Tony could give her a real headache.

She linked her arm with Roxanne to pull her away from her still arguing father, grab their drinks and watch as Tony attempted to flirt with the other red head, an annoyed glare on her face the entire time.  
  


++++

As the party continued, Roxanne glanced around the room before her eyes landed on where her father and the douche that was Hammer were speaking. It was very clear that Tony was doing his usual sass and make a complete fool out of Hammer. And honestly it may sound horrible but it was entraining.

After getting a small chuckle while eavesdropping on their conversation Roxanne found herself in a reasonably pleasant mood. She turned back towards the cute bartender and offered him a small smile "Sparkling apple juice please."

"Put that on my tab." Roxanne sighed, her happy mood officially gone and plastered on her fakest smile as she turned towards the man that had offered to pay for her drink "Hammer."

Hammer smiled at her...well actually it was more like a smirk as he looked her up and down while Roxanne bit the inside of her cheek to keep from heaving from the disgust that rolled over her from the thought of him. "Please call me Justin." He said before taking her hand and kissing it.

Roxanne forcefully removed her hand from his grasp when he attempted to hold it longer. "Thanks for the drink."

"Anytime." He said, sending her a smile.

Roxanne sighed, she knew that smile, he wanted something and honestly she just wanted this conversation over, so she just cut right to the chase. "So what can I do for you Hammer?"

"Well, I haven't seen you since the Senate."

Roxanne sipped her drink. "Ah, the Senate, you know I heard that you lost your contract."

Hammer smiled tightly "Actually, it's on hold. But that's not what I'm here to discuss with you."

She arched a perfectly groomed brow in curiosity, Hammer was creepy but he didn't approach her too much. "And why are you here then? I figured you would be more interested in my father, trying to get an invite to present something at the Expo. You know I'm sure if you actually made something that worked, he would gladly give you a spot."

Hammer chuckled "You've got your father's sense of humour I see. But the both of us know that you're the one who is really in charge of the expo."

A snarky laugh left her before she knew it was happening, "Justin, I have never seen a thing you have made that works properly or even lasts that long. You aren't a technological genius, you are the mascot for your industry who thinks he actually does anything that contributes to the industry. The day that you show something at the Stark Expo will be the day I reveal that I have superpowers and fight against robots with a sword."

Roxanne smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "Thanks for the drink, and the laugh. You're funnier than you know you are." She easily walked away as if nothing had happened.  
  


++++  
  


Roxanne took her seat at the table next to Pepper "Where did you run off to?" Pepper asked curiously, she hadn't seen the brunette in a while.

"Well first I was getting a bit of air and got a drink. Then Hammer cornered me and tried to get me to give him a slot in the Stark Expo. I made fun of him and walked away."

Pepper laughed slightly, but covered her mouth pretending she wasn't, it was a struggle to contain her laughter. "I thought Tony told you to punch him."

Roxanne giggled before sipping her sparkling juice. "He brought me a drink, had to play nice for a bit, anyway there's cameras everywhere here. Imagine what they'd be saying tomorrow."

Pepper laughed at the comment, but her attention was quickly brought to the television screen in the middle of the room, where she could now see Tony getting into a racing car. Not good...not not good. Definitely not good. 

Roxanne was taking a bite out of her eggs benedict as she noticed the expression on Pepper's face "Pep? What is it?"

Pepper couldn't answer she just pointed in the direction of the TV screen, as her eyes spotted it, they widened in shock "Oh my God!"

Pepper turned to Natalie and calls her over "Natalie. Natalie!"

"Yes Miss. Potts." Natalie answered as she quickly walked over to them not understanding the panic she could see on the faces of both women.

"Did you know about this?"

Natalie glanced over at the screen before turning back to Pepper, "This is the first that I have known of it."

"This...this cannot happen."

"Absolutely. I understand. How can I help you?"

Roxanne turns to Natalie, she needed to stop her dad from doing something stupid. "Where's Happy?"

"He's waiting outside."

Pepper nodded in a panic as she kept her eyes on the screen, refusing to look away "Okay, get him. I need Happy."

"Right away." Natalie said before running off.

Roxanne turned to Pepper "I'm gonna kill him."

"Get in line."

The two went back to watching the screen and their eyes widened as a man walked onto the track. Roxanne could only take deep breaths to stay calm as a sense of fear and panic for her father's safety filled her. 

Both women gasped as the man used a whip to slice the cars in half.

Roxanne took a shaky breath and stood up, completely prepared to run out the door and right onto the track. She may only have limited control but she should be able to do something. Roxanne paused though.

Stood in the doorway holding a briefcase was Happy. Thank god.

+++++

The three of them quickly ran towards the car and hopped inside "Go, go!" Pepper shouted at Happy the moment she and Roxanne were inside the car.  
  


"Hang on!" He yelled as they drove through a construction sight while Causing the girls to scream slightly as the car thrashed violently.

The car made a hard right which sent Roxanne and Pepper flying around the backseat, Roxanne looked out the window and found out that they were now on the racing track. 

As they approached the end of the track the three saw Tony's car go flying through the air "Happy hurry!" Roxanne screamed him more scared than she can ever remember herself being, she would literally go out of her freaking mind if she lost him.

"Give me the case!" Pepper told Happy.

As she took it Roxanne turned to Happy "Open the door Happy."

"What?! Are you insane?!" Pepper and Happy yelled together, they were speeding right against the metal gate wall cutting off the track from the crowd. Roxanne pulled off her heels in preparation.

"Just do it!" Roxanne screamed intensely, as if under a spell, Happy's eyes glazed over and he unlocked the door without hesitation. 

When the door was unlocked, Roxanne pushed the door open.

She threw herself out and landed as safely as possible, rolling across the ground. She quickly got back up, thanking her superhuman durability. Roxanne braced herself. She had only ever theorised about her ability to do this, but if she used the right amount of strength at the right angle, she should be able to propel herself into the air and land behind the crazy whip guy. She stood still and made a few practise jumps, trying to build up the strength. "One, two..."   
  


"Three!" Roxanne shouted as she jumped. She landed behind the man. She hit him with her arm, sending him flying into a fence.

The man swung one of his whips around her leg and electricity surged through her. She fell to the ground and could hear people screaming. Roxanne was able to think past the stinging in every part of her body and pulled her leg away. She panted heavily but wasn't able to rest as he swung again. However, this time she caught the whip in her hand and swung her leg around it to pull him into another wall. He tried the move again but before he could Happy appeared and crashed into the man with the car.

Tony turned to Roxanne. "What are you doing here?! I had that!" He demanded.

Roxanne glared at him, angry with the lack of gratitude to her for saving him. "Seriously?! I just got electrocuted for you! I saved you!" 

Tony turned his attention from his daughter and looked at Happy "Were you heading for me or him?"

"I was trying to scare him?"

Tony pointed at Roxanne who was now leaning against the car, hands on her waist and panting. Trying to recover from being electrocuted. "I think she was doing that just fine!"

"Are you two out of your minds?!" Pepper screamed at the father and daughter too terrified and angry at them both risking their lives to say anything else.

Tony leaned into the window "Better security."

"Get in the car right now!"

"I was attacked! We need better security."

"Just get in the car!" Roxanne yelled at him as she made her way inside, this caused Tony to moan before he walked to the other side of the car, mumbling under his breath like a child.

"First vacation in two years." He mumbled as he opened the door, only to have it sliced in two by one of the whips.

Roxanne watched as Happy continued to try to drive into him but it does nothing, Roxanne squeezed her eyes shut and felt the flicker in her core and tried pushing it outwards. She pulled her hands upwards to try to manifest some kind of force field to protect them. As Roxanne felt a rubber band in her mind snap, she opened her eyes to see in between her hands a small force field. Happy kept going back and forth and Roxanne's fields kept growing large. Suddenly, one of the whips came hurtling towards the centre of the car. But as quickly as it started swinging, a green hued field surrounded the car, preventing the whip from bisecting them.

"Anytime now, would be great!" She called to Tony as he puts on the suit, tiring quickly from the size of the force field.

"Bout damn time." Roxanne said as Tony pushed the car away and she could stop holding on the force field. She tried to get out of the car to help her Dad, but Pepper protested and pulled her back down. "Let Tony handle this, you've done enough so far. You did it so well sweetie."

Tony fought off the crazed man and police came to collect him. There was an ambulance as well and everyone was trying to get her to go to hospital.

"I'm fine! If there are any problems in the future, I'll Make sure I get checked out as soon as possible!"

This was after half an hour of arguing but no one looked that convinced. Roxanne knew that she didn't look better than the man that tried to kill them. Her previously styled curls were now frizzy and wild, she was sweating profusely, her makeup had smudged, the dress was torn, dirty and slightly bloody and her bare feet was shredded from all the broken glass. The paramedics sighed and told Tony and Pepper how to care for her injuries and that she should go to the hospital if there are any problems.  
  


++++  
  


They got another car and got back to the hotel. Pepper said that they would go straight home after they cleaned themselves up. Roxanne stripped as soon as she entered her bathroom and turned on the bath. As it filled, she pulled the glass shards out of her feet. She was able to pull them out and picked up the rubbing alcohol to sterilise the cuts. But when she looked back at the soles of her feet, the cuts were pulling themselves back together and disappearing as if they never existed.  
  


Roxanne rubbed her feet, ignoring the blood and grime they were covered in and was shocked at the lack of pain, scabs or any sign of damage. She picked up one of the larger pieces of glasses and made a very deep cut on her arm. It stung as blood poured out but slowly, the blood-flow started to slow. Roxanne could only theorise that she had accelerated healing of some kind and the cuts in her feet healed faster because they weren't as deep as the one currently on her arm.   
  


As she lay in the hot bath, Roxanne thought back at the day's events. She groaned and scrubbed her hands over her face as she realised the shitstorm that would be coming her way from the media and Jason. He didn't even know about her powers. Roxanne decided that she would avoid thinking about it and turned her phone off.

She created a small forcefield in her hand and worked on slowly making it larger. As she did this it felt like she was lifting weights with her mind. Roxanne could only hypothesise, that as she moved the forcefield it was moving matter and molecules on a molecular level which is why it was so hard for her to make them so large without an adrenaline surge. She would have to practise daily for an extended period of time for them to become more effective.

The water in the bath was lukewarm by the time she finished, she was sweating again and had a pounding headache. Quickly, she washed herself and got changed. She wore a red, white and black striped Bardot neckline top that had sleeves that ended at her forearms under some form fitting denim overalls. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun and a small amount of makeup was applied. Roxanne finished with a pair of white sneakers and met her family in the lobby.

+++++  
  


"It's just unbelievable. It proves that the genie is out of the bottle and this man has no idea what he's doing."

Roxanne watched the senator speak as Pepper and her sat on the private plane on the way back to the States, Roxanne moaned slightly as France was her favourite country and they always have long vacations there. They didn't get to relax at all. 

"He thinks of the Iron Man weapon as a toy. I was at a hearing where Mr. Stark, in fact, was adamant that these suits can't exist anywhere else, don't exist anywhere else, never will exist anywhere else, at least for five to 10 years, and here we are in Monaco realising, 'These suits exist now.' And that they may have for some time, and how can we trust Roxanne Stark, a teenager, with these dangerous powers she now apparently has? If she's hidden this from the public, can we trust anything else she says? Or even if she has humanity's best interests in mind?..."

"Mute." Tony ordered as he entered the room "He should be giving me a medal. Rox too. That's the truth."

Roxanne sighed, she knew he was annoyed and angry and she felt the same way, "Dad..."

"Nope come on." He said as he places a tray in front of her.

Tony lifted the lid to reveal two plates of bright yellow and blackened goop. He had attempted cooking for them. Which was sweet but it wasn't a talent of his. "This is your in-flight meal."

Pepper raised an eyebrow before she poked the goop with her pen, he couldn't have expected them to eat that "Did you just make that?"

"Yeah." He told them "Where do you think I've been for three hours?"

Roxanne and Pepper looked at each other and had a silent conversation. "Dad?" Roxanne asked "You're not telling us something."

Tony avoided both of their gazes as he sat opposite his two girls "I don't want to go home. At all. Let's cancel my birthday party and...we're in Europe. Let's go to Venice, Cipriano."

Pepper chuckled at the memory that occurred at his words "Remember?" Tony asked her with a small grin as he noticed the look on her face.

Roxanne smiled fondly in response, it was their best vacation ever, no arguing, no pervyness from her Dad, just fun like a normal family.

"Oh, come on." Tony pleaded trying to act cheerful "It's a great place to be healthy."

Roxanne looked at him confused at the choice of words but let Pepper speak "I don't think this is the right time. We're in a kind of a mess."

"Yeah, well maybe that's why it's the best time."

Roxanne knew there was something wrong with her father. He looked exhausted and ill. He looked depressed. He was hiding something and she needed to know what it was.


	5. Chapter 5

After the events in Monaco, Pepper and Natalie were answering phones as fast as possible, doing the PR for Tony and Roxanne. Roxanne sat on the railing of the stairs, curled up, listening to the women and the news. Her phone was blasting with messages, she was ignoring everyone. Roxanne wouldn't admit it, but she was scared of what people could be trying to say to her.

Freak.

Monster.

Mutant.

Roxanne had no issues with mutants, before SHIELD got involved, they had all thought that she was a mutant. There was no other explanation for her powers. She hadn't had any contact with radioactive spiders or or magical rings or anything stupid like that. Her dad was responsible enough to keep his work away from her when she was too young. She also knew that the idiot, Jubilee or whatever, was a mutant. She wasn't that great at hiding it.

After Rhodey dragged Tony out of the garage, the father noticed his usually boisterous teenage daughter shying away from everyone. He grabbed a soda from the fridge and made his way over.

"What with the shy act? " he asked as he sat next to Roxanne passing over the soda.

"What act?" Roxanne tried to play off, Tony simply gave her a look as she gave in. "I'm fine."

The truth was she wasn't as fine as she was trying to make everyone believe, it wasn't a surprise to her family as they knew her best. The knowledge that she was something other was hard to deal with. She didn't fit anywhere, not a mutant, not a human, not even an enhanced human. Roxanne didn't know how to deal with these abilities and the displacement she felt, no one would understand.

"Roxanne, I know you don't want to talk to anyone about it but you need to talk to someone."

She put a fake smile on. This was a topic she had done so well in avoiding but it looked like that was ending.

"Talk about what?" she asked.

Tony gave her a look which said 'you know exactly what I'm talking about'.

"You're right," Roxanne said as she looked out the window. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Roxy, do you really think im fine with you acting like me when I was your age? The drinking? The partying? Hell, you were even sleeping around before you got the boyfriend!"

The teenager scoffed, "You should be proud, I'm just following your footsteps after all!"

Roxanne started to storm off. "You don't know how I feel, so stop acting like you do."

Tony stared down at the counter as she left the room, faintly he could hear her door slam. That would be another wall that would have to be fixed.


	6. Chapter 6

The days ticked by until it came to the one Roxanne had been dreading; Tony's birthday. She hadn't spoken to her father yet, despite his numerous attempts. Being locked in the mansion due to the paparazzi camped outside the gates didn't help, it just made her lash out at everyone who came near her. Her father's birthday was one of her least favourite days of the year, she hated having hundreds of strangers invading her home. Roxy loved to party, but she despised her father when he was drunk. He became callous and reckless, saying and doing horrible things he often barely remembered the next day. Tony's careless attitude to his own life didn't ease the dread that had been looming over her. She had just gotten used to getting as drunk as everyone else in the room to get through the night.

Roxanne still hadn't turned on her phone. She was terrified to see what people had texted her. Roxy would start to sweat and breathe heavily at just the thought of people she actually knew saying the same things the news and tabloids are saying to her. She liked living under the bubble that everything was fine, the world still loved her and she was "America's Princess".

Roxy had never dealt with people not liking her. People were often too scared of her fame and wealth to insult her to her face, she knew that there were people out there who didn't like her. She is a genius after all, it's just easier to imagine that everyone is in love with you.

She made her way down to the lab with a small wrapped box in her hand. Despite their argument, Roxy insisted it was an argument and not her throwing a tantrum when she had ranted to Pepper and JARVIS, she loved her father. And she was very bad at holding grudges, it took up way too much time.

As usual, Tony was typing away on one of his computers working on something. Every time Roxy asked him about it or tried to spy on this new project he would switch subjects or screens. She had deduced it was probably her birthday present.

She sat down right next to him, ignoring how he shut down every screen around them. "You excited for the party?"

"It's just another party." Tony shrugged. Roxanne ignored his lukewarm response, she didn't really care about that, it wasn't what she had come down there to do.

She passed him the box. It was small and rectangular, weighed very little and wrapped in red metallic paper and a gold ribbon. Roxanne had spent a long time thinking of what she could give her father for his birthday. What do you get someone who can buy and create literally anything they could think of.

Eventually she had crafted a small cube that functioned as a holographic photo and video album. "Happy Birthday dad."

"Thank you baby," he said with a huge grin. He let out a laugh when he saw what Roxanne had wrapped it in. "Nice choice."

Roxy grinned knowing that he would have loved the choice to wrap it in his signature colours.

He tore open the paper and pressed the on button on the cube. The first photo was of Pepper, Tony and Roxanne, it was a candid photo of the three of them making dinner when Roxanne was 5. Well it was Pepper attempting to make dinner but rolling her eyes as Tony snuck bites when she wasn't looking and Roxanne was laughing at the two of them.

It was one of Roxanne's favourite photos of the three of them. Pepper wasn't her mother biologically but she had been there almost all her life.

Tony shuffled through the photos and they watched the videos with smiles on their faces. The best memories they had together, arguing as Tony taught his daughter how to take apart an engine, Roxanne's high school graduation, then her MIT graduation.

As they flipped through, Roxy looked at her father to see his eyes glistening. She wasn't sure how to deal with that. She thought this would be a nice gift. Why was he upset?

"Thank you so much Roxanne," he said with raw emotion in his voice. He pulled her into a tight hug. She reciprocated, confused why he was acting so emotional and not commenting on how simple the invention was. It was hardly the most sophisticated thing she had made.

"I left free space for future photos, like when I get my nobel prize" The teen said when she pulled back from the hug.

Tony smiled weakly as he looked down at the cube. Roxanne smiled back awkwardly and left him alone, sensing he wanted to be left alone. She needed to get ready anyway.

\----

"Hey, Pepper." Rhodey greeted as he approached the redhead at Tony's party.

Pepper turned to him noticing his worried frown when he couldn't see the younger Stark at her side. "Do you know where Roxy is?"

She nodded sadly and pointed out the teenager in the corner. She was well on her way onto getting hammered drinking straight out of a whiskey bottle and clearly sulking. Somehow despite the house being crowded there was a clear radius around her. No one was willing to get closer than a meter away from Roxanne.

Rhodey shook his head, this wasn't going to be a good night. Drunk Starks weren't fun.

Pepper nodded running a hand through her hair in frustration, why couldn't they have an event that went smoothly for once "Okay. I don't want to deal with this right now. I'm going to go get some air."

Rhodey frowns at the upset look on Pepper's face, Roxanne's underage drinking wasn't at the level of misery she was currently expressing. "What's wrong?"

Pepper led him into the living room. "I don't know what to do. And my backup plan was to have Roxy knock him out but..."

"You have got to be kidding me." Rhodey groaned, cutting her off as he watched the drunk Tony parade around in the Iron Man suit "Where's the responsible super strong daughter when you need her? That's it. I'm making..."

Pepper grabbed his arm "No, don't call anyone."

Rhodey turns to her, she couldn't be serious "This is ridiculous. I just stuck my neck out for this guy. He is not just putting himself at risk, but Roxy as well."

"I know. I know. I get it. I'm gonna handle it, okay? Just let me handle it." She soothed him.

"Handle it." He commanded and turned to glare at Tony "Or I'm gonna have to."

Pepper was too late as the tipsy Roxanne lost her patience at the ridiculous way her father was acting and made her own way over to Tony. The ginger could only take solace that at least Roxy looked like she was in better shape than her father was.

Tony held the microphone and announced to the eager crowd, "You know, the question I get asked most often is,'Tony, how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?'" he paused and produced a strangely concentrated look on his face, "Just like that."

Roxy was disgusted at what she had just watched, it was disgusting and embarrassing and for the millionth time in her life she wished she was part of literally any other family.

She stomped up the steps and snatched the microphone out of Tony's surprised hands. She turned to the crowd with a wide, cheesy smile, "Doesn't matter that he's a genius inventor! Does this guy know how to throw a party or what?"

The audience cheered and Tony laughed.

He stared at Roxanne and started to slur some words out. "Roxxx," He poked her forehead, "you," Burp "are my greatest creation."

Roxanne's breath caught, despite the frankly gross delivery, those were the nicest words she had ever heard from him. She ignored the warmth in her chest for the moment and focused on getting the crowd to leave her home.

"Aw," She pressed her hand to her chest, looking out at the crowd, "Isn't that sweet? Just so sweet! Anyway, thank you so much. Daddy, we all thank you so much for such a wonderful night. And you all thank you for coming! But, unfortunately, we're gonna say goodnight now."

Tony started to pout and he took her hands, "No, no, no, we can't. Wait, wait, wait. We didn't have the cake. We didn't blow out the candles."

"I'm going to actually hurt you with my weird powers if you don't chill, 'kay?" Roxanne whispered, lowering the microphone, "You're out of control. Trust me on this one, please?"

Roxy could see her father wasn't convinced but kept trying to sway him. "It's time to go to bed. It's time; you'll sleep this all off and we can be hungover together tomorrow. Just send everybody home, okay? It's time to."

Her dad sighed and shrugged, "If you say so."

She stared into his eyes trying to see if he was being sincere. Trusting that he would behave, she stepped back and nodded. "Okay. Take the mic."

She moved to walk off the stage as her Dad began to talk again, "Roxanne Stark, everybody! That was her! My little girl; she's so grown up."

Now Roxanne was stuck standing next to the DJ as everyone looked at her. She waved awkwardly and hoped her Dad could wrap this up so she could leave.

Tony nodded drunkenly, "Rox's right, the party's over. Then again, the party was over for me, like, an hour and a half ago."

The young Stark sighed in relief and gave a wide smile over to Pepper who smiled back with happiness on her face.

But then Tony kept going, "The after-party starts in 15 minutes!" everyone cheered and her face fell, "And if anybody, Roxanne, doesn't like it, there's the door," as he pointed, his thruster fired and glass shattered everywhere.

Roxanne went furiously red in embarrassment from her father's attitude towards her in public. Tony roared making everyone scream and cheer. A few people scowled at Roxanne, for trying to ruin the party and the general dislike the public has taken towards her.

The party was getting even more wild, Tony was exploding things left and right. Roxanne and Pepper didn't know how much more they could deal with. The craziness was interrupted by a loud clanking.

Rhodey was wearing a silver Iron Man suit.

"I'm only gonna say this once!"

Everyone whirled around to look at him.

"Get out."


	7. A/N: Dilemma

Hi!  
  


I have a lot of plans for this story, originally it was supposed to be a Bucky Barnes story but now I have been thinking of aging Roxanne down and making it a Peter Parker story. 

Spoiler!

Roxanne is going to eventually have control of the Time stone that will stop her aging for a while so it is less weird. 

Comment and let me know where you want this to go, I'm really struggling with this idea. I might eventually do the original story but make a new book with the new idea.

Thanks!


	8. Chapter 8

"You too Roxanne," Rhodey said, his voice slightly distorted by the suit.

She wanted to stay, to try and talk her dad out of the suit, to stop them from hurting each other. But Pepper grabbed her hand and led her out of the room before she could even try.

"Pepper, we have to-"

"No. We have to go," she said, leading Roxanne through the stranglers who were still running for their cars. As she threw open the door to her car, they could hear music blasting from the house.

Roxanne had to put her foot down, “Pepper, I’m not leaving.”

A loud bang suddenly echoed through the night followed by the sound of glass smashing.

"Are they fighting?!." She immediately spun around and started to run as she could back to the house. Roxanne wasn’t sure what she was going to do, maybe something with force fields because that's all she knew she could produce at the moment.

Pepper ran after her, screaming, "Don't be ridiculous!"

In typical Stark fashion, Roxanne ignored her and continued for the house. More destructive sounds filled the night air and she wondered just what on earth she was going to walk in on. She almost cried when she walked back into the house to see a huge hole in the wall. They had gone straight through the wall, through the sauna and into the exercise room. Glass littered the floor and she didn't even want to go in and look at what was left of the exercise room.

Roxanne stumbled through the wreckage of her home, looking for the two idiots with billion dollar super powered suits. The building was starting to shake from the constant impacts. This had to stop before they destroyed the whole house and sent it crashing into the ocean.

As she entered the main party area, the first thing that got her attention were the two men in suits throwing punches in the middle of the room. The second thing she noticed was the gaping hole in the ceiling breaking through the floor of her bedroom. She was too shocked to even try separating them.

"Roxanne!"

A hand suddenly wrapped around her wrist. Happy had run into the room and was tugging Roxanne towards the glass doors that lead out onto the balcony. As they reached everyone else outside another large crash called their attention.

Iron Man had smashed Rhodey into the bench and had apparently knocked him unconscious. Iron Man slowly turned around to face the small crowd watching him. After a moment he adopted a fighting stance and yelled threateningly at them. The people around Roxanne instantly screamed and ran for the steps to leave, for real this time. Seconds later, she was the only person left standing on the balcony. Even Happy and Pepper had left.

The two Starks stared at each other through the glass. When Tony screamed, Roxanne instinctively produced a force field around her. For the first time ever, she was afraid of her father. 

It was a feeling she never thought she would have. But as she stood there, Roxanne couldn't deny a ripple of fear travelled down her spine. 

She watched as Rhodey stood up and they continued to fight. Tony even got thrown headfirst into the fireplace. She stayed until they both threw up their hands and the repulsors began to glow as they powered up.

Through the glass she could just barely make out Rhodey saying, "put your hand down."

"You think you've got what it takes to wear that suit?" Tony replied.

"Put your hand down."

"Take the shot!"

Roxanne didn’t know what the result of two repulsor blasts being shot at each other Harry Potter style would do. But she knew that she didn’t want to be around for it. 

She ran as fast as she could away from the house, regretting her decision to even try helping them.

Luckily she was fast enough to get out of the explosion radius but it didn’t stop the ringing in her ears and the headache they produced.

Roxanne turned back to her house when she reached Pepper’s car, the dust was settling but nothing in the room was left standing after the blast, including the men in the suits. After standing there for a few moments, surveying the wreckage that was once the entertainment room.

She was too angry to go and check that both men were alive and sat sullenly in the passenger seat of Pepper’s car.

"Roxanne, what the hell-" Pepper stopped mid sentence, noticing the teenager wasn’t going to react well to an angry rant. She took a deep breath and pushed away her anger at Tony to focus on the girl she considered a daughter. "Are you okay?"

Roxanne chose not to answer that question, she wasn’t alright. She felt like she had gone back in time to when she was 13 and she spent almost all her time in her room or the lab to avoid her father’s drunken behaviour. "Can I stay with you tonight?"

Pepper kept throwing her surrogate daughter concerned glances as she drove, Roxanne pretended not to notice as she stared ahead of her. She wondered if the past two years of happiness and being a functioning family had been real. It felt like Tony finally wanted to be a proper parent but how could she trust that again?

Was Roxanne doomed to spend her life constantly cleaning up after her Dad?

She couldn’t even come up with excuses for this, she loved her Dad more than anything but what could be so bad that it constitutes destroying their home?

When they arrived at Pepper’s apartment, the teenager went straight into the guest room. She was too tired to talk to Pepper like she probably wanted to do, she was too tired to even process all of her emotions. Roxanne wanted to scream, shout and cry but her mental exhaustion won over them. The crushing disappointment and the depression that came with that, pulled her into bed and sleep.


End file.
